Hat-card holder.



A. M. SHIVE.

HAT GARD HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 26., 1912.

" Patented Dec. 16, 1913.

UNITED STATES .EPATENT @FFTQE.

ALBERT M. SHIVE, OF WILKES-BARBIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

HAT-CARD HOLDER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT M. SHIVE, citizen of the United States, residing at Wilkes-Barre, in the county of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hat- Card Holders, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in combined hat tags and guards, and the object of my invention is to provide a device which may be readily attached to the sweat band of a hat and including a tag holder which may be swung downwardly against the inner face of the band when the hat is checked or otherwise disposed of by the wearer and which, when the hat is in use, may be swung up against the inner face of the hat and out of the way.

A further object of my invention is to provide the display tag with a knob or other means extending into the hat when the tag is in lowered position to prevent the hat being placed upon the head until the tag has been returned to raised position, thus preventing a stranger from taking the hat by mistake and wearing the same away without noticing the name tag.

A further object of my invention is to so construct the clasp, by means of which the tag is attached in place, that it may be readily removed from one hat and applied to another. And a still further object of my invention is to so mount the tag holder upon this clasp that it will be yieldably held in either of its adjusted positions and prevented from assuming any position other than those 11? entioned.

With these and other objects in view, my invention will be more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and then specifically pointed out in the claims which are attached to and form a part of this application.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a perspective of my improved hat tag and guard in op eration; Fig. 2 is a vertical central section through the device, the tag holder being in raised position; Fig. 3 is a vertical central section through the device, the tag holder being in lowered position; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the clasp removed from the hat in a position corresponding to that of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the clasp removed from the hat in a position corresponding to that of Fig. 2.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 26, 1912.

Patented Dec. 16, 1913.

Serial No. 693,369.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawing by the same reference characters.

For the sake of clearness I have illustrated my device in application, showing the same attached to the sweat band 10 of a conventional derby hat 11, although it will be understood that the device may be applied with equal facility to the sweat band of any type of hat.

Referring more specifically to my invention, the device will be seen to consist primarily of a clasp 12 for engagement with the sweat band and a tag holder 13 hingedly connected to the clasp and normally hearing against the inner face of the hat above the band, but capable of being swung down to bear against the inner face of the band.

The body portion of the clasp is preferably for. ed from a single strip of spring metal 14 having its end portions tapered and terminating at one end in a bifurcated extension forming spaced tongues 15. The central portion of this body member is provided with a longitudinally extending slot 16, while the other end portion of the body is provided with a pair of spaced apart longitudinally extending slits forming a loop 17 which is pressed out from the body portion, as shown. The end portions of this body member are oppositely bent back into parallel relation with the central portion, that end portion carrying the tongues 15 being spaced a considerable distance from the central portion to co-act therewith in the formation of clamping jaws 18 and 19 for engagement upon opposite sides of the sweat band. In order to clamp the band between these aws, I have provided a swing clamp formed from a single piece of wire doubled upon itself centrally to form an operating arm 20 and having its end portions oppositely directed and mounted in loops fort: ed by re-bending the tongues 15 upon themselves, said end portions terminating in laterally directed fingers 21 bent at right angles to the end portions proper and to the arm 20, the end of said terminals being beveled to form sharp prongs adapted to engage in the material of the band when the arm 20 is swung upwardly against the body of the clasp.

The tag or tag holder is attached to the clasp by means of a bail 22 which extends laterally from the tag or tag holder and which seats in the bight portion between the clamping jaws thereof. This may be simply a tag with the owners name and address thereon or it may consist of a tag holder carrying a simply marked tag. In the drawing, I have illustrated the bail as attached to a tag holder 18 including a rim 24 to which the bail is attached and upon the opposite side of which is secured a knob or other projection 25 which, when the and also as a means for maintaining the tag holder either in its raised or its lowered position, I have provided a wire 27, one end of which is formed into a laterally directed hooked terminal 28 which is passed through I the slot 16 and hooked about the central porof the bail 22. The body portion of this wire extends out over the free end of the body member of the clasp and is bent to form a hook 29 which engages with the loop 17, the resiliency of the loop carrying portion of the body member causing the hook 29 to yieldably but firmly bind the bail in position. The central portion of the bail, as shown, is flattened at 30 in such a manner that when in either raised or lowered position, the hook bears against the flat tened face of the bail to yieldably hold the same against turning. This flattened bail construction, together with the spring, also insures the tag holders swinging either to fully raised or fully lowered position.

In applying the device to a hat, the clamping jaws 18 and 19 of the clasp are positioned one upon each side of the sweat band, the former being positioned against the outer side thereof and the arm 20 is swung upwardly against the body member of the clasp to swing the fingers 21 into engagement with the sweat band and so lock the clasp in place. At this point it might be well to state that the engagement of the fingers with the sweat band causes the clasp to move outwardly slightly from the band as shown in the drawing, and therefore when the clasp is to be removed, a slight downward pressure will move the clasp toward the band and swing the arm out from the body member sufliciently to permit the complete swinging of the arm.

In normal position, the tag holder extends above the sweat band as shown, with its knob extending outwardly toward the hat. When the hat is to be checked or otherwise disposed of, the tag holder is swung down to lie over the sweat band, in which posi tion the knob will offer an obstruction to prevent the wearing of the hat until the tag holder has been returned to its original position. Any one picking the hat up by mistake, therefore has his attention immediately directed to the tag and all accidental changing of hats is therefore avoided.

It will of course be understood that the owner upon having a hat handed to him will immediately look for the tag and if he finds he has the right hat will swing the tag back to raised position when the hat will be ready for wearing.

The spring pressed bail forms an extremely delicate lock for maintaining the tag holder in its raised and lowered position and the tag holder may be swung from one position to another in various ways, the most apparent, of course, being by swinging the tag with the fingers. A slight outward pressure against the inner face of the clasp, however, because of the oifset position of the bail, will swing the tag from raised to lowered position. IVith the tag holder in normal position, the same may be lowered by jerking the hat sharply in the direction of the side opposite to that to which the device is attached or by a sharp rap upon the brim of the side opposite the point of attachment of the device, the hat being held with the crown uppermost in the meantime. The tag holder may be swung from lowered to raised position in the same manner, the hat in this latter case being held with the crown down.

It will of course be understood that the clasp may be of any suitable metal and in any proportions desired, it being however, advisable to make it as small as possible.

Vhile my device is primarily intended as a means of identification, it will of course be understood that I do not limit it to such use as it may be employed by manufacturers as an advertising device or as a price card by haberdashers. In fact I do not even wish to limit it in its application to a hat as it may be found of value in many other ciroumstances.

The clasp may be designed in various shapes and the card or tag may be made of M any suitable material. The tag may be used to advantage by haberdashers and when used may be inscribed with their advertisement and the price of the article to which it is attached. I

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A hat tag and guard including a resilient plate having its end portions oppositely bent in spaced relation to the body portion, the body portion and one end portion forming spaced jaws, holding means carried by said latter end portion and coacting with the body portion, a display holder having a rigidly formed bail seated in the bight portion between the jaws, and means carried by the other end portion engaging the bail and acting through the resiliency of said other end portion to clamp the bail against turning movement.

2. A hat tag and guard including a resilient plate having its end portions oppositely bent in spaced relation to the body portion, the body portion and one end portion forming spaced jaws, holding means carried by said latter end portion and coacting with the body portion, a display holder having a rigidly formed bail seated in the bight portion between the jaws, that portion of the bail seating between the jaws being flattened, and means carried by the other end portion engaging the bail and coacting with the flattened faces thereof through the resiliency of the said other end portion to clamp the bail against turning movement.

3. A hat tag and guard including a resilient plate of sheet metal having its end portions oppositely bent in parallel spaced relation with the body portion, means coacting with one of said end portions and the body portion to form a clasp, a display holder, an offset bail rigidly secured to said holder and having a fiat central portion, said bail bearing in the b ight portion of the clasp formed by the bodyportion and one ofthe end portions, and means co-acting with the flattened faces of the bail to yieldably hold the same against rotation, said means including a wire secured by one end to one of the end portions of the body member and bearing over one of the ends thereof and having a hooked terminal engaging through a sllot in the body member and about the bai 4. A hat tag including a resilient plate having one end bent in parallel spaced relation to the body to form a bail receiving loop, a tag having a rigidly attached bail seating in said loop, and a hook carried by the other end of the plate and through the resiliency thereof held in engagement about the bail to normally hold the bail and tag in certain positions relative to the body.

5. A hat tag including a plate adapted for attachment to a hat band, one end of the plate being bent into parallel spaced relation to the body portion to form a bail receiving loop, the central portion of said loop being slotted, a tag having a bail seating in said loop and extending across the slot thereof, and a hook carried by the other end of the plate and passing through the slot and resiliently engaging about the bail to normally hold the bail and tag in certain positions.

6. A hat tag including a resilient plate having one end bent into parallel spaced relation to the body and adapted for attachment to the sweat-band of a hat, a tag, a bail rigidly attached to the tag and seating between the body portion and the bent-over end portion, that portion of the bail so seating being flattened, a hook of angular configuration carried by the plate and through the resiliency of the same engaging by one of its angular faces against one of the faces of the flattened portion of the bail to hold the bail and tag against swinging movements.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT M. SHIVE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G. 

